A songbird seldom seen in Bermuda has made a return at the East End, the Bermuda Audubon Society announced.

Kirtland’s Warbler, pushed to the verge of extinction 50 years ago by the destruction of its breeding habitat in North America, was first confirmed in Bermuda 20 years ago by the late Eric Amos.

That sighting was recalled by the former government conservation officer David Wingate from the 2003-04 Christmas Bird Count, when Mr Amos stunned fellow birders by casually producing a video of “one of the rarest birds in the world with perhaps a one-in-a-million chance of being encountered on Bermuda”.

Kirtland’s Warbler, which winters in the Caribbean, was most recently sighted by birdwatcher Andrea Webb, who initially took it to be the common Magnolia Warbler.

She said: “I’d never seen one before, although I might have a long time ago — I didn’t get a picture.”

Kirtland’s Warbler is classed as a “rare accidental” in Bermuda.

Ms Webb, who tries to venture out daily to scout for birds, had gone to the vegetable stand near the swing bridge at Kindley Field Park in St George’s, in mid-December.

“I was there to sell strawberry plants, but I’m always listening out for any special chips and sounds, and I heard this little chirp.

“The bird was there in the trees, and it just popped out.

“It was so pretty I started taking pictures. I didn’t realise it was a Kirtland’s. If you look at a female Magnolia Warbler, they’re very similar.

“I put my pictures up on the eBird website. Someone reviewed it and told me what it actually was, which was very, very exciting.”

The revelation of a Kirtland’s sighting, which the society said was “extremely rare”, got promptly shared online.

The warbler, which was sheltered in tamarisk bushes, remained in the open for a few minutes, enabling a solid identification.

Ms Webb said she got “quite close and just kept snapping”.

Kirtland’s Warbler breeds only in large, dense forests of jack pine, a habitat now found only in the north of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan — although, thanks to a lengthy conservation campaign, it was taken off the United States endangered species list in 2019.

The encounter is believed to be Bermuda’s third positive confirmed sighting.